Hot Topics:

5 QUESTIONS with Door to Door Organic CEO Chad Arnold

By Alicia Wallace, Camera Business Writer

Posted:
01/27/2013 06:59:32 PM MST

Updated:
01/27/2013 07:00:44 PM MST

Door to Door Organic CEO Chad Arnold

Door to Door Organic, a Lafayette-based online grocer, recently broadened its market reach by formalizing a relationship with Suburban Organic -- an East Coast e-grocer that has been a partner of the local firm since 2010.

As of Feb. 1, the wholly owned Suburban Organic will adopt the Door to Door Organic Tri-State name and give the local firm a bigger foothold in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

The Daily Camera last week spoke briefly with Chad Arnold, Door to Door's president and chief executive officer, about the expansion and other broader issues facing the company.

The following has been edited for clarity and space.

1. How did Door to Door's business and sales fare in 2012?

Great. We had a really strong year. We saw growth in all of our markets. We're continuing to expand into a broader selection of grocery items. ... We went from 125 employees at the end of 2011 to about 170 this past year.

2. What allowed for the recent expansion east?

Long ago, Door to Door Organic originally started out in Pennsylvania; the founder is from there. We had some familiarity with that market and, actually, Suburban (Organic) has essentially been operated by Door to Door for a while now, but we didn't have any of the innovations we developed under the Door to Door brand. ... Now we'll move into a whole line of delivering dairy, milk and 500 other products into that market.

It's a big and compelling market ... you have a lot of people who are passionate about food.

3. How has your business responded to outside factors such as uncertain economic times, rising food and fuel prices?

The economic conditions have been both a challenge and a blessing for our business. When times get tough, a lot of people start to refocus dollars into their local community and also refocus a little bit of spending at home. It's really driven a huge and broad awareness of local food in particular, which we continue to purchase a lot of food locally.

As people transition dollars out of eating out, they tend to splurge a little on eating in.

With rising food prices, that is a challenge for us. One of our key attributes is as a provider of value. We think we do a good job there. We can take away trips from the store, we're adding hours back into the week. Another big component is around food waste ... we have developed planning tools and recipes and are trying to integrate better ideas for people to use the food that they have.

A nice thing about our service is our core product offering -- our seasonal produce box -- is a fixed price to the customers.

Now we do need to keep up and periodically raise prices, but that's something that we've not done in the past year. We're assuming that (produce prices will rise) in the area of 3 percent ... again, we do bear the burden of most of the cost. In most markets, we've not had to raise prices.

4. As larger players such as Walmart make a bigger push into online grocery shopping and delivery, how do you plan to compete?

I think the quick answer is we're excited for the awareness of people purchasing groceries online.

... We just think there are some real tangible benefits for the consumer about purchasing groceries online and having them delivered.

At the end of the day, we sell really high quality food from our vendors and local farms ... and our customer base appreciates that.

It's going to bring a broader level of awareness. We're still going to have the relationship with the customers that they trust our food. They trust how we get it.

5. Do you plan to expand to additional markets this year?

We're not focused on additional markets, we do incremental expansion in our delivery territory all the time. This year, and continually, we're really, really focused on building a better customer experience for e-grocery ... and that includes these ideas of better planning (including recipes and tutorials).

MacIntyre feels Colorado is capable of making run at bowl gameCU BUFFS FALL CAMPWhen: 29 practices beginning Wednesday morning 8:30-11 a.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday practices are open to the media and public next week. Full Story

It didn't take long for Denver music observers to notice Plume Varia. Husband and wife Shon and Cherie Cobbs formed the band only two years ago, but after about a year they started finding themselves on best-of lists and playing the scene's top venues. Full Story